Shloka 42
Pṛthu Mahārāja Meets the Four Kumāras: Bhakti as the Boat Across Saṁsāra
राजोवाच कृतो मेऽनुग्रह: पूर्वं हरिणार्तानुकम्पिना । तमापादयितुं ब्रह्मन् भगवन् यूयमागता: ॥ ४२ ॥
rājovāca kṛto me ’nugrahaḥ pūrvaṁ hariṇārtānukampinā tam āpādayituṁ brahman bhagavan yūyam āgatāḥ
The King said: O brāhmaṇa, O mighty one, formerly Bhagavān Hari, compassionate to the distressed, bestowed His causeless mercy upon me and indicated that you would come to my home; to confirm that blessing, you have all now arrived.
When Lord Viṣṇu appeared in the great arena of sacrifice at the time when King Pṛthu was performing a great sacrifice ( aśvamedha ), He predicted that the Kumāras would very soon come and advise the King. Therefore Pṛthu Mahārāja remembered the causeless mercy of the Lord and thus welcomed the arrival of the Kumāras, who were fulfilling the Lord’s prediction. In other words, when the Lord makes a prediction, He fulfills that prediction through some of His devotees. Similarly, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu predicted that both His glorious names and the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra would be broadcast in all the towns and villages of the world. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda desired to fulfill this great prediction, and we are following in their footsteps.
FAQs
This verse calls Hari “ārta-anukampī,” compassionate to the afflicted, and shows that His mercy is already bestowed and then fulfilled through further divine arrangement.
Pṛthu recognizes the sages’ arrival as the Lord’s arrangement—saintly association that completes and deepens the mercy Hari had already shown him.
Seek sincere sādhus and authentic teachings; guidance from realized devotees often becomes the channel through which divine grace matures into steady devotion and clarity.